options

Command line options

Jsqsh commands executed on the jsqsh command line follow many of the same rules as program executed at your computers command line (well, unless you are used to working in the Windows command shell, then you'll find it is better).

All jsqsh commands accept command line options. These options are provided in two different forms: a short form an a long form.

Short options

Short command line options are provided in the form of a dash (-) followed by a letter. For example, the \connect command requires a username to be used to establish a connection to the database server. The short form of this option is -U followed by the name of the user. You can either have a space following the username or not, so that:

\connect -Usgray

is the same as:

\connect -U sgray

In some cases, the command line option does not take an argument (in the above "sgray" was the argument to the -U option). For example, with the \echo command:

\echo -n hello

the -n flag indicates that a new-line should NOT be displayed after printing the word "hello"

Long options

Short options are easy to enter, but for command, such as \connect, which require a lot of options, it can begin to look like alphabet soup:

\connect -Usa -Pguessme -Dmaster -Ssql-prod -dmssql-jtds

To address this, every command line option also has an alternate long form. For example, the equivalent of the -U option for \connect is (note the double-dashes, they indicate it is a long option):

\connect --user=sgray

or

\connect --user sgray

this, the full command line shown above would be:

\connect --user=sa --password=guessme --database=master --server=sql-prod --driver=mssql-jtds

this form may take more typing but is much more explicit.

Option documentation

In all help documents, options are generally shown as:

--long-name1=value (-X value)

where the option -X is also known as --long-name1 and takes an argument (e.g. -X value, -Xvalue, --long-name1=value or --long-name1 value are all the same).

--long-name2[=value] (-Y [value])

where the option -Y is also known as --long-name2 and has a value that is not required.

--long-name3 (-Z)

where the option -Z is also known as --long-name3 and does not have an argument (e.g. -Z, or --long-name3 are the same)

Options supported by all commands

All jsqsh commands accept the following arguments:

--gui (-g)

Display all output in a graphical popup window. This is useful for setting aside a result set for later reference while you continue to work.

--help (-h)

Displays a description how to execute the command.